Fire-ladder



l lNiTED STATES PATENT Carien. A'

FIRE-LADDER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 379,916, dated March 20, 1888.

Application filed July meer. seriaiNo. 243.414. (No model.;

To all whom it may concern."

Be it known that I, ANDREWJ. SUTHER- LAND, a citizen of the United States, residing at Battle Creek, county of Calhoun, State of Michigan, have invented a new and useful Fire-Ladder, of which the following is a specication.

This invention relates, principally, to that class of ladders which consist of a series of telescoping sections, with ropes or cables Ifor elevating the sections one out of theother.

The objects of the invention are below pointed out in the description and claims.

ln the drawings forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 is an elevation; Fig. 2, asection on line 2 2 and part on line 44 in Fig. 1; Fig. 3, a section on line 3 3 in Fig. 1; and Fig. 4 is an' enlarged perspective of lettered details'.

Referring to the lettered parts of the drawings, O is the base ladder, which, when in use, is designed to be mounted in a suitable manner upon a truck, or other support if for other uses than fire-ladders- Mounted in suitable bearings in the section G are three windlasses, o a, x, the central one being provided with a crank or cranks, S, and gear connected with the gears fe ofthe windlasses o w.

At B is a section within the base section, and A is atop section within the middle section, B, all adapted to slide within each other.

A cable,c,is attached to one end of the windlass n, and is passed up over a pulley attached near the top of the base ladder, thence down to near the base of themiddle section,B,passed through the same behind one of the rounds, thence up the other side over a like pulley,and back down to the Windlass. The object of vhaving the cables in one piece and crossing from one side 4of the ladder over to the other isto cause the cable to automatically equalize itself, whereas if it did not cross over loosely through a hole or staples and separate cables were employed one might stretch or shrink more than the other and the section would not slide out true.

The cable c is attached at one end to thelower windlass, and is passed up on one side between the sections B A, over a pulley, r, at-

f tached to the inner side of the section B near the top, thence down around a pulley attached to the ladder-section A near the bottom, and from thence upward and passed across the ladthat the windlass would revolve as fast again der B near the top, for convenience through holes in upper slat, (see Figs. 1 and 4,) and down on the other side around alike pulley near the foot of section A, and up over another pulley y like r, and then down to the windlass at', Fig. 1. Thus the fold in the cable for raising the up per section has three strandsv lapped upon themselves, as clearly shown in Fig. 4. By this 6o means the rope c is of a sufficient length to allow the ladder A to pass out of ladder B asj soon as the ladder B passes out of ladder C. Thus both ladders A B are at vtheir points of greatest ascension at the same time. f

The reason that a greater length of rope c is needed is that the ladder B is ascending at the same time that ladder A is ascending, while the'ladder C remains stationary. lf the rope c were not passed from the pulley at the base 7o of ladder A upward and attached to thet'op of 'l ladder B,- but were attached to the base of ladder A instead, then the ladder` A would be eX- tended quicker than the ladder B. This might be accomplished by making the windlass a: twice as large as the win'dlass n, in lieu of the three laps in the cable; but this would not be so practical; or it might be done by so gearingg as the windlass a; but the cable in such a case 8o would unduly wind upon itself. y The cable u, for drawing the sections into each other, or at least the upper section into the middle section, is attached to the windlass o and tothe base of the upper section,A. The Windlass'v is geared to the crank-windlass a, so as to rotate as fast again as the windlasses n x. By this means the cable u takes 'up and lets out a sufficient length uniformly with the other cables, a c, The several pulleys keep the ladder-sections separated equally on each side and form a guide to them during the operation.

As many sections may be employed on this principle as desiredor as is practical by multiplying the folds of the cables in the addif tional upper sections, or only two sections, C and B, as desired. f

From the foregoing the, operation of sliding the sections in and out of each other by turning the cranks S will be readily understoodA without further details.

The base section is here Ashown hinged to a revoluble plate, B; but this has no reference to the sliding sections. For the best understanding of this reference may be had to another case of mine filed January 19, 1887, Serial N 0.224, 7 74. Theinternal gear, F,is shown in said application, and the upright shaft D, with pinion K meshing with the internal gear, F, turns the plate when the shaft D is turned .to change the position of the ladder. In this instance the shaft D has bearing support in an upright tube attached to said plate. The gear of the operatingcrank x meshes with the gear at the top ol' the shaft D. The axis of the crank-gear is attached to a collar or enlarged end at the top of the tube D. ln the present instance this upright shaft, its upper gear, and crank-gear are independent from a certain frame shown in said prior application.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is g 1. The combination of the ladder-sections, one sliding within the other, windlasses, one for each sliding section, mountcd in the lower section, a rope or cable passed through the base of the first sliding section, looped over pulleys attached lo the upper portion of the base section, and attached to its windlass, and a rope or cable passed across the upper end of the middle section, looped around pulleys attached to the lower end of the upper section and around pulleys attached to the upper end of the first sliding section, and attached to the 3o windlass for said cable, substantially as set forth.

2. ln combination, a base section, sliding sections, one within the other, the windlasses mounted in the lower section, one adapted to 35 be rotated as fast again as the others, cables or ropes attached to the sections and looped over pulleys and attached to the windlasses designed for them, and a single cable or rope attached to the upper section and to the windlass which 4o witnesses.

ANDREW J. SUTHERLAND. Witnesses:

EUGENE P. ROBERTSON, W. R. BABoooK.

5o unto subscribed my name in presence of two 

